jchance
A-List Customer
- Messages
- 329
- Location
- Los Angeles
The website you referred to also mentions the jackets are made in USA.I take that back, it appears that Sugar Cane is the exclusive importer of MF leather jackets for the JP market. The JP tag claims that MF “manufactures” the jacket itself and Toyo Enterprises (i.e. Sugar Cane) “imports” the jacket.
I’d like to make a black leather jacket I have more shiny. Do you suggest Urad black or neutral? If black, does it stain anything?Luckily there’s Urad
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Weak button attachment.
As shown below the buttons are backed with a button on the reverse side which is the best way to attach a button imo. So far so good.
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Unfortunately the execution is poor. More than half of the buttons on the jacket have loose threads. One could argue that this is a used / second hand jacket and that with time and wear threads will eventually come undone. But this jacket hasn’t been worn all that much and maybe it’s not uncommon for one or two buttons to come undone but not more than half of them.
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Tiny button holes
As you can see below the buttons are too big for the undersized button holes. I can hardly fasten some of the buttons at all and unfastening them is a daunting task that takes more than a minute. For reference I’ve measured the button hole size on the DH and the ELMC. Both are larger (DH 1” , ELMC 0.875”) yet their buttons are smaller and thinner. This is clearly a construction defect.
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Huge opening / bottom hem
The Campus has a boxy fit which, judging by the pics of original ‘30s Cossacks, is true to original. But this one is wide like a tent. It has a ptp of 23” which is pretty normal for a size 42 but it has a 22” bottom hem which is HUGE. Luckily the side gussets are functional and I’m able to take in one inch from each side. Cinching the sides by that much doesn’t look good though, it makes the jacket look blousy.
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There seems to be some variance in ptp size amongst these jackets, maybe a size 42 with a 22”ptp would have fit me better.
Tiny handwarmer pockets
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The handwarmer pockets on this jacker are so small I can barely get my hands in them. Maybe people had smaller hands back in the ‘30s or maybe I have big hands like Donald Trump, I don’t know lol. But imo this is poor design.
The left pocket measures 4 6/8 inch, the right pocket just short of 5 inches. For reference, the ELMC measures 6 1/8 inch and the pockets on my vintage Californian halfbelt measure 5 6/8 inch.
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The verdict
Overall I think it’s a nice looking jacket. The materials used are of high quality and I do like the short body length. Unfortunately the execution is flawed: it has some weird design choices and buttoning up the jacket is total pain in the arse. Unacceptable for a $1k jacket.
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If it looks more grey than black I'd use black Urad. If it just looks dull then I'd use colorless Urad.I’d like to make a black leather jacket I have more shiny. Do you suggest Urad black or neutral? If black, does it stain anything?